Box-shaped packages are available on the market which are configured to be easily opened and closed reversibly. These packages are now used for containing a wide range of products, such as drugs, cosmetics, food products (e.g., confectionery products), cigars, and cigarettes.
Generally, such packages include a container of paper material having two accesses longitudinally opposed to one another. At each access, the container includes a tab movable by rotation with respect to the same container between an open condition, in which the tab is spaced from the access, and a closed condition in which the tab is inserted into the container and obstructs the access. The tab, in the closed condition of the container, has an “L” shape in which an engagement portion of the same tab inside the container is facing and in contact with a front wall of the latter.
The package may include one or more packing materials—which can be inserted and removed from the container—inside which the products are arranged (the packing material can for example include a blister carrying a plurality of pharmaceutical products) or the products are housed directly in the package (without packing material): the “loose” products are placed in the package, like for example is currently done with cigars and cigarettes.
It should however be noted that these types of packages can be easily opened by children who can therefore come into contact with elements that are potentially harmful to them. It should also be noted that these packages allow the total extraction of the product (for example blisters for the containment of drugs, plastic tubes for cosmetics, etc.) from the package: once the product has been extracted, there may be the risk that it will be forgotten out of the box, with the consequent risk that children may come into contact with elements that are potentially harmful to them.
In some embodiments, a package includes a case made of paper material having a box shape; inside the case there is a plastic tray which retains at its interior one or more blisters to contain a plurality of products.
The case has a classic opening and closing mechanism (movable and “L” shaped tab inoperable in the package); in the closed condition of the package, an engagement portion of the tab extends parallel to a front wall of the same container.
Unlike the previous solutions, the case of the latter package has, at opposite longitudinal lateral walls, two slits which are also arranged along a diagonal of the case itself. The tray includes two protrusions suitable for inserting into the respective slits of the case: in the condition in which the tray is housed in the case, the engagement of the protrusions with the slits prevents the extraction of the same tray by just a pulling action thereof. If one wants to remove the tray from the container, the protrusions must be pressed in such a way as to push them towards the inside of the container and make it disengage from the slits; at this point, the tray can be removed.
This latter solution has an opening mechanism which requires a particular handle and handling of the package, a condition which makes it difficult to open it by children. However, the package described above is not exempt from limitations and drawbacks. For example, the structure of the package is rather complex, a condition that negatively affects production and product costs: in order to be able to function correctly, the package requires the shaped plastic tray. Moreover, the particular structure of the tray requires a substantial modification of the existing packaging plants and used for the production of standard-type packages; this modification requires, in particular, the insertion of a new closing line, the insertion of special machines for forming the tray with a considerable increase in the process costs and therefore in the final product.